The Shape of Destiny
by LexlentheNobody
Summary: Lexlen, Number XIII, The Shape of Destiny, is the most powerful Nobody that Xemnas has.Once she starts receiving weird dreams, she goes on an adventure to keep the promise she made to Axel as a Somebody and find the answer to the one most important questions to a Nobody. Can a Nobody ever have a heart?
1. Chapter I

I walk through the empty, white halls, my dark purple hair swaying back and forth against my shoulders with each step. I see a flash of red hair round the corner a little ways ahead of me and quickly turn into a fly to avoid being flirted with and annoy Axel to death with my buzzing sounds of doom. I start to fly around his head and maneuver around his attempts to swat me down. I let out a giggle once he starts to get really annoyed. A little while longer, and he sets his hands and fire. I quickly turn into a mouse to escape the fireballs he is now shooting and try to scurry off, but he decides to follow me and try to scorch me with his flames. Once I reach the door to my room, I change back to my normal self and slam my door in Axel's face and lock it. He starts banging on my door and yelling for me to let him in. I just smirk and lay back on my bed.

"Just wait 'till Xemnas hears about this Lexlen!" he yells through the door.

"Oh, really? And just what do you expect him to do? Kill me? Ha! I'm his most powerful member! If anything Mansex will kill you for trying to turn me into ashes!" I yell back at him. He hits my door one last time before sighing and walking away. I stare at my white ceiling for a few minutes until the intercom built into my room comes to life with Mansex's voice.

"Lexlen, find Axel and return to the thrones immediately."

"Yes sir." I curtly reply before heading out the door and changing into a dog. I race down the halls following the faint smell of smoke because where ever there's smoke, there's Axel not too far away. The trail leads me to the kitchen where I find Axel wearing pink apron and failing at baking cookies.

"Axel boss wants us at the throne room." I tell him as I watch the smoke billow out of the oven.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, just let me finish cooking."

"Axel he wants us there NOW! So put the poor bricks of cookies down, take the apron off, and let's go." I pester while I tug on his arm. He reluctantly puts the tray of burnt cookies down, takes his pink "kiss the cook" apron off, and follows me back to the throne room to see what Mansex wants. We walk through the giant, white double doors and see him already up in his throne, which just happens to be the tallest, with his hood on.

"We have a new potential member. He is at Hollow Bastion at the moment. I want you to go find him and bring him back here. When you get back, I'll give you your next job." He orders in that creepy voice of his.

"Wait, you mean we have to go together?" Axel asks obviously amused.

"Was it not implied?" he answers.

"But Xemnas you can't-," I start only to be interrupted.

"I let you get away with and do a lot of things, but this time I make the ultimate decision and you are going with Axel," he says with finality. I sigh furious and storm out of the room towards my own. Just as I'm about to open my door, Axel steps in front of it and cuts me off.

"Looks like we'll have to learn to get along on this one huh?" He states in a very annoying, amused tone.

"I don't have to get along with anybody! Besides, I work best on my own, so you can go where ever you want while I go get the newbie. I'll make sure to give you half the credit," I offer to try to get him to leave me alone.

"Do you really hate me enough to go against Mansex's direct orders? I mean you NEVER go against him." he asks with a hint of mimicked sadness.

"Listen, I don't like working or hanging out with anybody, so it's not just you. Now move so I can go be mad at Xemnas in peace," I say trying to push him out of the way.

"Fine, but I'm not backing down. I'm going with you and you will have to learn to deal with it. Got it memorized?" he states before walking off. I storm into my room filled with as much anger and hate as I could fake. It's really strange because I've become so good at imitating emotions that at times they seem almost real…


	2. Chapter II

Once I finally calm down, I walk down the hall to Axel's room. I knock a few times before Axel opens the door mid-knock. I quickly put my hand down and look up at him with a small smile. He returns it with an annoying smirk that immediately turns my good willed smile into a frown.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here. The almighty Lexlen is knocking on my door. Could it be that she has actually fallen for me and my irresistible charms?" he asks yet again amused.

"Yes Axel, I have fallen head over heels for your annoying smirk and stupid catch phrase," I reply sarcastically.

"Point taken. Now why are you here?" he asks seriously as he leans against the door frame.

"Well we have to go get that poor recruit before he gets devoured by heartless, and, if you don't mind, I would like to bring him back in one piece, so I was thinking we should go ahead and leave now."

"Now that your calm, sure let's go babe," he says as he makes a dark portal to Hollow Bastion.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to call me 'babe'?" I ask irritated before I follow him through the portal. He just laughs in response and that just serves to annoy me even more. We exit the portal and we end up on top of a building in front of Merlin's house. We quickly move out of view so as to not be caught by the wizard and his friends. I pull out the locator that Xemnas gave us and turn it on. A red, a purple, and a blue dot pop up on the screen. The blue dot is inside the outline of Merlin's house on the map.

"Dang it! He's with Merlin and his friends!" I yell frustrated that nothing is going my way.

"What do you mean he's with them?" Axel asks like the idiot he is.

"Look! He is in that house!" I yell at him while shoving the device in his face and pointing to the house.

"Oh, how are we supposed to get him then?" he asks finally understanding.

"I think I have a plan that could work," I start grinning mischievously at him, "I can transform into normal looking clothes and get them out of the house by telling them that there are Heartless nearby. Then, when the new guy runs out you grab him and haul him back to Castle Oblivion. Sound good?"

"Yeah, that's actually really smart." He says smirking at me. I transform into a pair of black, skin-tight, and really short shorts and a dark blue half top that matches my eyes, but I keep my boots. I also decide to change my hair color to brown, just in case. I look over at Axel to see if he approves of the new look. All he can do is stare and his ever present smirk grows as he takes me in. I take this as a sign of approval and move out from behind the building and start towards the house. When I reach the door, I hear several voices talking on the other side. I burst through the door panting like I'm out of breath. They all look towards me startled.

"The Heartless, they are all over town square!" I state faking a state of panic. Instead of rushing out to find them as I expected, they all just stared at me wide eyed. "Is something wrong?"

I hear somebody walk up behind me, and I turn around to see who it is. The man in front of me is tall and thin with long brown hair and a scar between his eyes. Once he sees my face he gasps and stares at me in disbelief.

"Ellen?" he asks cautiously in a soft whisper. I look at him in confusion. He did seem rather familiar, but I've never talked to anybody from this planet so it's impossible for me to know him.

"No, it's Lexlen," I state simply shaking off the odd sense of familiarity. His expression changes to one of disappointment and he walks past me into the house.

"Why are you here?" he asks rather emotionlessly and turns to face me. The others are still looking at me like they can't believe I'm standing right in front of them.

"I came here to tell you about some Heartless."

"Where?" he asks suddenly concerned with what I have to say.

"Town Square." I reply confused beyond belief at why I'm getting all these weird stares. The man quickly starts to head for the door with the others following him now that they have snapped out of their shock.

Before he leaves, he stops to clap me on the shoulder and thank me. As soon as his hand touches my skin though, images start racing through my head causing a sharp pain to erupt. I collapse and all I can see are these strange images that seem familiar, like far off memories. I can hear someone barking orders and others trying to figure out what's going on. I feel myself be lifted and put into a soft bed. The pain continues to course through my head with each new image. After a while, I finally slip into the relief of unconsciousness.

I wake up and look to my left to see the man form earlier, that I can now identify as Squall Leonhart or Leon as he likes to be called no thanks to the painful memories I received before passing out. He is sleeping in a chair in a very uncomfortable sitting position. I turn my head and look to my right. There is an open door and through it I can see all the others from before in the adjacent room talking too quietly for me to hear. I received memories of all of them. Leon starts to stir and wakes up. I sit up in the bed and greet him with the biggest smile I could fake.

"Hey Leon, sleep well?" I ask trying to act as if nothing strange happened. He looks kind of surprised that I'm acting extremely happy and energetic, but just grunts in reply as he gets up to let the others know I'm up. As soon as Leon tells them, the girl that I now know is Yuffie, runs over to me and practically squeezes me to death in a big hug.

"I may have never met you before, but I was freaked out. I mean you just collapsed out of nowhere and even though your eyes were open you wouldn't even react to our voices and acted like you couldn't see us. It was freaky!" she babbles before Cid pulls her off me to let me breathe.

"How long was I out?" I ask realizing that Axel probably has no idea what happened.

"You were out for most of the day. It's 9 P.M. now." Aerith answers.

"Oh no, Axel. Thank you for taking care of me but I really have to leave now," I say jumping out of the bed and rushing to the door, but Yuffie grabs my arm to try and stop me. At this, another wave of memories bursts through along with the pain, but I manage to pull away and make it through the door and to where Axel and I first appeared. I see Axel step through a portal in front of me and when he sees me a look of concern crosses over his features. I start to collapse again, but, before I hit the ground, Axel catches me.


	3. Chapter III

_I'm in a completely empty white room. I turn around to see if there is anything there or a way out._

_"Looking for a way out?" a voice rings out from behind me. I snap back around and see an oddly serious Axel leaning against the wall, but he no longer has the tattoos under his eyes._

_"H-how did you get in here? Wait, how did I get in here and where the heck are we?!" I ask in a less than friendly tone. _

_"You, babe, are in the deepest reaches of your heart. As for me, I'm a mere memory you decided to bring up." He says seriously. I start laughing hysterically at this._

_"That's a good one. A heart? As if. I'm a nobody, and we both know that for a fact." I manage to say once I finally stopped laughing. _

_Is it really that far-fetched?" he asks before the room transforms into a familiar looking hallway. Right in front of me is a large door and I can hear voices on the other side._

_"Is the heart complete?" a high pitched voice asks._

_"Yes, the only thing left to do is see how it responds to the subject." A much deeper voice responds._

_"Then would you like me to go retrieve Lexlen from Castle Oblivion?"_

_"Yes I believe the time has come."_

_The room suddenly returns to the bare white walls it was before. I just stand there in shock. I put my hand over where my heart should be and feel a soft pulse._

_"How do I have a heart?" I whisper just loud enough for Axel to hear._

_"You see Ansem the Wise found a way to create a heart, but it was void of emotions and memories. Later on, he found it was capable of learning how to feel and obtaining memories from other hearts, so he decided to try them on a few nobodies since they lacked a heart anyway," he replies emotionlessly._

_"A few? Who else got one?" I ask curious as to who else is capable of real emotion._

_"Axel is the only other one that you know of, and you have to help him remember."_

_"Why?" I ask as the room transforms to look like the ridge at Hollow Bastion. I see two teenagers on the ground in front of me. The girl crying hysterically with brown hair and deep blue eyes is kneeling and cradling the boy with bright red hair that is lying across her lap. "Lea you can't leave me! You stupid boy! You just had to go and get your heart taken away! I promise that I'll get you your heart back! I won't die until I do! I promise!" she screams before jumping up and running off. I stand there looking at the boy. Then a realization hits me. I feel an ache in my heart and tears stream down my face. That girl was me. I made that promise to Lea, Axel's somebody. _

_"I'll help him. I have too, and maybe I can also get more memories about what happened before that and how I knew Lea. Is that the only memory I have of him?" I state as the room changes back to normal._

_"Sadly yes, but there are still plenty more memories to be obtained." He replies before vanishing._

_"Wait don't leave! " I scream before everything fades to black…_


	4. Chapter IV

"Wait don't leave!" I scream sitting straight up in the bed. I look frantically around the room and see Axel about to leave the room.

"How did you-? But you were just out a minute ago?" he stammers while turning around to look at me with a hopelessly confused look on his face. As soon as he finishes turning around, I bolt out of the bed and wrap my arms around him in a big hug.  
"I'm so, so sorry. I let you down, but I promise that I'm going to make it up to you!" I say as tears start to stream down my face.

"Geez babe. It wasn't that big of a deal. I got Roxas and that's all that matters, and it wasn't like it was your fault you passed out, but if you want to hug me, feel free to do so whenever you please. Got it memorized?" he says smirking down at me. I quickly push away and glare up at him.

"As if I actually enjoyed that! By the way, that was the worst hug ever," I shoot back laughing, "By the way, what was our next assignment?"

"Oh, we have put Roxas through the boring orientation process. I already showed him where his room is and gave him a tour, so all we have left to do is introduce him to everyone," Axel states with a bored expression.

"Cool, that shouldn't take too long and I still haven't been officially introduced to him yet," I say excitedly as I grab his hand and drag him out the door, "Hey, do you think we could hang out after we finish the orientation?" Axel stops in his tracks and, because I'm still holding onto his hand, I get yanked back. I turn to yell at him but when I see his face I stop. He looks like he is trying to remember something but can't.

"Why does this seem so familiar?" he asks genuinely confused.

"I don't know, but is that a yes or no?" I ask.

"Oh, uh, yeah that's fine," he says distracted before takes my hand and leads the way to Roxas' room, which is a good thing because I had no idea where I was going. We pass a few more doors before Axel stops and let's go of my hand. He knocks on the door a few times before a very disoriented Roxas opens the door. His hair is all messed up as if he just woke up and he looks very tired. I stifle a laugh at his appearance but quickly shut up after he sends me a less than friendly glare.

"Axel what are you doing here? And who is she?" he asks Axel gesturing towards me.

"This, my dear Roxas, is the infamous Lexlen, my partner in crime, the Shape of Destiny herself, and the most powerful of us all," Axel states dramatically. I shoot him an irritated glare and turn back to Roxas.

"Ignore him. He's an idiot, but hi, it's nice to finally meet you. I'm Lexlen," I greet sticking out my hand. As Roxas shakes it while laughing at the devastated look on Axel's face, I continue, "If you don't mind, we would like to go ahead and finish up your orientation, so go ahead and get dressed in your ever so fashionable cloak." Roxas again starts laughing, but nods before closing his door to get ready.

"When did you become so social?" Axel asks, sincerely confused. I smile up at him mischievously.

"As soon as I found out I still have a few promises to keep to some very important people." I turn and walk away, knowing that the curiosity is now eating at him.


	5. Chapter V

"Hey! Where are you going? Aren't we supposed to be waiting for Roxas?" Axel reaches out and grabs my arm. I turn around to look at him.

"Yes, that's what you are going to do. Once he's ready meet me in the throne room. I have something to take care of really quickly." His arm drops back to his side. I turn back and start to walk away again. I reach Xemnas' room in good time and knock loudly. "Xemnas! There's been a report of a large heartless and I wanted your permission for Axel and I to go and destroy it."

"Permission granted!" he yells through the door, "Now leave me alone." I walk away with a sly smile etched on my face. I take my time walking back across the castle to the thrones, coming up with a plan for the adventure that awaits Axel and I later. Once in front of the doors, I hear Axel ranting and raving about how I'm either stupidly slow or a jerk for abandoning him. I hold back a laugh as I change into a fly to sneak up on them. Well Roxas, at least. He needs to learn to expect the least expected. Plus I just want to for my own amusement. I slip under the crack in the door and see an angry Axel pacing around the room with his hands on fire and a murderous look in his eyes. Wow he must really be angry. Roxas is standing as far away from Axel as possible and looks freaked out with a hint of what-the-heck-did-I-get-myself-into. In other words, it's the perfect chance to freak Roxas out even more and make Axel less mad at me at the same time. I fly over to Roxas and land next to him. I then change into a black cat. He looks over at me and just stares in shock, confusion, and fear. I decide to push him over the edge.

"What are you staring at?! Never seen a cat before?!" At this point he lets out a long, high-pitched scream. I start laughing hysterically as I change back to normal because he sounded like one of those damsels in distress. Axel hears the scream and snaps his head around to see where I came from. He turns around only to find me laughing and a freaked out Roxas.

"Roxas? Was that you?" he asks in disbelief. In response, Roxas' cheeks turn a bright pink and Axel too starts laughing. After ten minutes Axel and I are still rolling on the floor laughing as Roxas is yelling at us to stop. A little while later, both Axel and I sober up and we head out to find the other members. The first one we cross paths with is Marluxia.

"Oh kingdom hearts! Not you! The last thing we need is you freaking him out." I yell as soon as I see him round the corner.

"Like you didn't?!" Roxas yells to me.

"That's different. I'm the one who rescued you, so no matter what you are always going to trust me and it's acceptable for me to mess with you." I explain simply.

"Rescue?! So you call bring me here, to this boring place with evil people, rescue?"

"Haha, well you see, there may be all out creepy and evil people, but you get a heart in the end, so yes it is rescue. Marly! We have the newbie to introduce to you!" Axel winces as I yell to Marluxia across the long hallway. He looks up from the flowers he's holding and calmly walks up to us. "Marluxia, Roxas. Roxas, Marluxia." I introduce pointing at them respectively. Marly just nods and walks on, whispering to the flowers. Once we are out of earshot, Roxas speaks up.

"Was he just-" I cut him off. "Don't ask because I don't even know what he was doing and I don't want to know."

"Do you think it's one of those new habit things mentioned at the last meeting?" Axel asks looking over at me.

"Maybe because I've never seen him talk to his precious flowers before," I reply with a shrug.

"Are you guys saying that this kind of stuff is normal?!"

I shrug again at Roxas' question. "Not really, but after a while nothing surprises you. Oh here's Mansex's room." I say as we pass it.

"Mansex? Who is that?"

"Oh it's Xemnas. If you live long enough, you'll find out why we call him that."

"Live long enough?!"

"Oh look there's Larxene! Let's go annoy her!" I yell randomly.

Axel sighs. "No you are not going to get you along with the newbie here killed."

"Oh come on! She would never kill me. Remember when you guys made that tampon gun and I teamed up with her steal it from ya'll. We totally kick your butts!" Axel returns this comment with a glare.

The rest of the introduction period goes as smoothly as the first part did except for one part where Axel seemed like he was trying to remember something. I wonder how much longer it will be until he actually does remember something. Afterwards we dropped Roxas off with Mansex and went our separate way to prepare for our trip to Hollow Bastion.


	6. Chapter VI

I stare up at the ceiling as I wait for Axel to finish getting ready. I'm hoping that I can finally get him to remember something there because we were both there at one point. I also need to ask around to see what I can do to gain the rest of my memory. Maybe I can even find Ansem the Wise.

Axel bursts through the door wearing a black t-shirt and jeans. He looks nervous as runs over to me, yanks me off the bed, and throws me over his shoulder before running through a dark portal. Once on the other side in Hollow Bastion, he none too gently puts me down.

"What the heck was that for!" I yell as I poke my stomach to see if it's going to bruise. (FYI it is going to have one nasty bruise!)

"Sorry. I kind of got Larxene really mad at me and needed to get outta there soon. What are we doing here anyway?"

"If Xemnas asks, defeating a heartless, but in reality, just wondering around," I reply as I walk over to the closest shop to us in the town square. I feel Axel's gaze burning holes into my back as I casually drift around the small shop. I turn around to see what he wants only to be met with his confused but questioning stare. "What? Can a girl not take a break every once in a while?"

"Why did you lie though? He would have given you a break if you asked."

"True, he would have let me go, but not you, and you're important for what I have planned. Plus I didn't need him asking questions about what we were doing and where we were going, and I might have wanted to rebel a little for the first time ever." As soon as I finish my explanation, Axel smiles mischievously at me. I return it with worried one instead.

"A plan huh?"

"Oh, that?" I reply with a relieved expression, "Yeah, But all your required to do is have as much fun as you can fake and do as I tell you. Trust me you'll like the outcome."

"Ok, so what's first babe?"

"Well, I was thinking that we should go to the ridge and hang out for a little while before we meet up with some friends I made the other day." Axel agrees to go so we head off and just talk on the way there. When we get there, Axel's face twists in confusion and concentration before he gets this far off look, like he's in a different world entirely. After a few minutes he seems to snap out of it.

"Hey Lexlen, I need to go take care of some stuff. I'll meet up with you later at the castle."

"Kay. Bye Ax." I look at him concerned as he leaves, trying to figure out what just happened. I sigh and decide to go ahead and try to find Leon to ask him some questions.

I end up wondering over to Merlin's house and finding everybody from the first time I came here there. I hesitantly knock on the door before entering cautiously. They all stop their conversations and stare at me. With my looks back to the way they originally are, they don't recognize me.

"Uh hi. I'm Lexlen, the girl that passed out the other day."

"OMG! You ran out of here really quickly and just disappeared! What happened to you?!" Yuffie screams rather loudly. I wince at the volume but quickly recover and reply.

"I ended up going home. My friends made sure I was taken care of and I'm all better now. I'm actually here to try and get some more information to try and figure out more about what happened."

"Well were kind of busy so what do you need," Leon states bluntly. I look over at him nervously before continuing.

"I'm trying to find more information on what happened to Ellen after Lea died. It's really important that I find out."

"After Lea died, Ellen started doing all this research on hearts and stuff. She became obsessed with it. After a while, she left, something about Ansem the Wise and Beast's castle," Leon answers, surprising me. I stand there silently for a moment taking in the information.

"Thank you. It means a lot to me. I'll make sure to come back soon, but I really have to leave now." As I exit the house, I see a short person with large round ears in a black organization cloak, yet he's definitely not part of the organization. When he sees me he jumps in surprise.

"Lexlen! What are you doing here?" He asks in the same high pitched voice from my dream.


	7. Chapter VII

"That voice. You were there when I got a heart. You helped Ansem the Wise get me one," I gasp, staring at the short figure in disbelief.

"You're getting your memories back that's good, but how do you know that I helped?"

"A dream. It took me through several important memories."

"That's weird. Follow me. We need to speak with Ansem about this immediately." The man then grabs my hand and drags me all the way to a weird looking study. The study is filled with weird research papers and books about hearts, light, and darkness. There is also a creepy looking portrait hanging on one of the walls. The man removes the painting from the wall and reveals a hidden passage. He again claims my hand and drags me through the entrance into a scary looking lab. Hearts and other odd objects litter the counters along the walls. In the center of the room, there are two hearts in glass containers that are on stands and connected to machines. A man with blonde hair in a lab coat is studying the two hearts with his back to us. "Master Ansem, I brought Lexlen here to meet you."

"Ah, yes. Lexlen, the Shape of Destiny, how wonderful to meet you," Ansem greets as he turns around to face you. "Why did you bring her here, Mickey?"

"She remembers receiving her heart, and she's been dreaming."

"You remember that?! But how? You weren't even there." A look of realization crosses his features. "Your heart! Your heart alone must have been able to create memories on its own, so that night that I gave you the heart it must have been there because I found it not long after."

"What are you talking about?! Wait, you found my heart?" I ask looking at Ansem in shock. He nods and gestures to one of the hearts attached to the machines. I stare at it in awe and slowly inch towards it. The red and purple heart that once belonged to my somebody floats aimlessly in its glass prison. Underneath it is a monitor displaying in big green digits "54% complete". The monitor for the heart next to mine displays "15% complete". "Is this Axel's heart?" I point to the heart in the container next to mine. He nods in response. I sigh. "Why is it so hard to get him to remember? Better yet, why is it so hard for me to remember him?"

"People that are of great importance to your heart will trigger a stronger response, so maybe you just have to find people that were special to him? For you, it may be the fact that he still lacks most of his heart, so the more of it he regains, the more memories you will receive," Mickey replies. I turn towards him with a sad smile. I then turn towards Ansem.

"How did you make the hearts we have now?" I ask him. He turns and walks over to one of the jar cluttered counters. He carefully picks one of them up and brings it over for me to see. Inside is an orb of what looks like pure light. He hand it to me to hold while he gets another jar with an orb of darkness in it, and again hands it to me.

"These orbs are of light and darkness. As Sora continues to fight the dark, both light and dark are freed and can be absorbed or collected by anyone who knows how to find it. I've studied hearts for years and each one contains a perfect balance of both, so with time and a large supply of these orbs, I figured out how to meld the two to form a perfectly balanced heart, but with time some things went wrong. As Sora defeated the darkness, the light grew stronger, so the light in the heart devoured and destroyed the dark in the heart. By the time I realized this flaw, the hearts had already been placed in you. So far, this has had no major side effects, but it has caused you to hate and push away anything has a high concentration of darkness."

"That explains why I was mostly a loner in the organization and why I never completely pushed Axel away, but that leaves Roxas. I don't feel that same disgust and defense kick in around him. Why?"

"That is something that will have to be revealed in time. Now you need to go before the others start to worry and Xemnas starts to grow suspicious." I nod and for a dark portal to my room, only to find Axel waiting for me on my bed with a worried expression.


	8. Chapter VIII

"Axel! What are you doing here?" I ask nervous as to why he's worried. He stands.

"Why did you bring me to Hollow Bastion?" he asks looking conflicted.

"No reason…why?" I reply now suspicious.

"You're different. When you got back from Hollow Bastion the first time, you changed. Got it memorized? You suddenly want to be friends and hang out and be nice. Then, you take me there and weird things start happening. What happened in Hollow Bastion, babe?"

"I-I…nothing…don't worry about it…I-I'll tell you when the right time comes. What do you mean by weird things?" Just as he opens his mouth to answer, Roxas bursts in looking scared.

"G-guys, Xemnas is really mad and he wants to see you both r-right away," he manages to stutter out.

"Roxas!" Larxene's voice calls angrily through the halls. I look at him accusingly.

"Roxas, what did you do to Larxene?" I ask calmly. He laughs nervously before stepping all the way into the room and closing the door behind him.

"You see Xigbar thought it would be funny to mess with her and asked me to go and distract her for him. Well, more like threaten…but I guess I got her attention…" He laughs nervously again. I roll my eyes.

"Fine I'll go talk to her and make sure that she doesn't kill you. Axel, meet me in the throne room to talk to Xemmy." Axel looks at me funny before I turn and leave my room. Just as I close the door behind me, Larxene rounds the corner looking furious. "Hey Larxene. What's up?"

"I can't talk right now. I have to find that brat Roxas. Have you seen him?"

"Nope. What did he do?"

"He got one of those Poké Balls and threw it at me, screaming: "Pikachu return!". I'm going to kill him!"

"Whoa, Larx calm down. Think about it . Why would he do that all by himself? I think someone put him up to it."

"Who?"

"Xigbar. I heard from a source that he's been dying to prank you. Roxas was the perfect distraction."

"Really? Thanks Lex! I'm going to kill the moron!" she growls as she heads back towards her room. I step back into my room to find only Roxas still there.

"She's gone. I put here on Xigbar's trail, so you're safe for now." Roxas visibly relaxes.

"Thanks Lexlen. I really owe you one for this."

"You sure do, but I need to go meet up with Axel before Xemmy decides to kill him for me being late, so out of my room." With this we both leave my room and head our separate ways. I slowly walk to the throne room thinking about the conversation Axel and I had before Roxas burst in. I wonder is he got any memories back.

"Hey Princess Xemmy! What do you have for us this time?" He glares at me but says nothing about the name.

"I see you didn't attempt to kill your partner last time, so I'm assigning you two to work together on a heart gathering project together at Beast's Castle. You are dismissed." Axel and I leave the throne room. When the door closes behind us, Axel bursts out laughing.

"Princess Xemmy? Where did you get that and how did you get away with it?"

"The internet, my dear Axel, is full of wonderful things, and Mansex would never turn his best into a dusk, so I'm safe when it comes to stuff like that." I reply as I too start laughing. Axel creates a portal and we both enter, still laughing.


	9. Chapter IX

We force ourselves to stop laughing before we exit the portal so as to not draw unneeded attention to us. As soon as we enter the large castle, my mind floods with memories. Apparently, I came here looking for Lea's heart and made friends with both Beast and Belle. Changing to look like my somebody might make this job so much easier.

"Axel, I'm going to need you to wait here for a little while. I think I can get Beast to allow us to stay here for a while, but I have to do so alone." He gives me a simple nod in response as I change my appearance to look like Ellen. I look over at him and he looks deep in thought with a hint of confusion. Maybe he's getting memories back.

I walk up the stairs in front of us and pause at the ballroom doors. I push them open with ease and quietly cross the room to the balcony. I silently slip outside and see Belle. I loudly clear my throat, catching her attention. She turns around with a start.

"Ellen! You scared me!" I smile lightly.

"I'm sorry. I really didn't mean to startle you." She returns the smile.

"It's fine. What brings you here? Have you talked to Beast yet?"

"No, I haven't seen him yet, but he's definitely my next stop. My friend and I were just passing through and I decided to stop by and pay you a visit."

"Well you're always welcome here. Did you ever find your friend's heart?" she asks sadly.

"Yes, I did, just recently, actually. It took forever, but my efforts paid off. He's actually the friend that's with me now."

"Oh you mean this one?" she points at something behind me and I turn around to find Axel staring at me in confusion. My smile falters slightly but I quickly recover it and face Belle again.

"Yes." Before I know it, Axel is right next to me extending his hand to Belle, who takes it politely.

"The name's Axel. Got it memorized?" Belle giggles softly.

"Quite the charmer you've got, huh?" she asks.

"Yeah, but he has a tendency to be a relentless flirt, so watch out." I joke back. This causes her to laugh even more.

"Well why don't you two wait in the ballroom? I'll go get Beast and bring him down. I'm sure he would love to see you again Ellen." She states as she elegantly walks back inside, leaving Axel and I alone. My heart starts to beat wildly as I grow more and more nervous under his confused yet accusing glare. The tense silence continues for a few long moments, before Axel decides to break it.

"What in the worlds was that?"

"Nothing Axel." I say with my gaze fixated on the ground.

"That obviously wasn't 'nothing', Lexlen. You look exactly like your somebody, apparently you've been looking for my heart, I keep getting all these new memories of you and my somebody, and now according to you I have a heart when last I checked I was a nobody! Got it memorized?" Now, he sounds angry.

"`What do you want me to say?! You wouldn't believe or understand me if I explained it to you anyway!" I yell now equally angry.

"Oh yeah. Try me!" I growl in frustration as Beast and Belle make their way out to the balcony. I quickly replace my glare with a bright smile.

"Beast! I've missed you. How have you been?" He smiles in his own weird way in response.

"Good. I hope the same goes for you?"

"Yes, everything is great."

"Wonderful. Belle was telling me that you finally found this young lads heart." He turns to Axel. "You're one lucky man to have someone who cares as much for you as she does." Blood rushes to my cheeks and I shift nervously from foot to foot. Axel stares down at me curiously, all anger gone.

"Beast you're making her nervous." Belle scolds. "Well dinner is soon, why don't you join us, and if you need to stay the night here we have spare room you can stay in." I smile at her.

"That would be great! Thank you so much!"

Dinner went smoothly aside from the occasional odd look from Axel. Though we may not be on the best of terms at the moment we still have a mission to complete, so after dinner, I told Axel to meet me in my room at midnight so that we could search the castle for the dumb heartless that Mansex wants dead.

I pace around my room nervously and look over at my clock yet again. He's late, very late. When he gets here I am sooo going to kill him for making me wait so dang long. In the middle of my planning how I was going to kill him, he bursts through the door.

"Sorry I'm late, babe."

"You better be! Now let's go before it gets too late." I yell as I grab his hand and start dragging him out the door. I hear a loud crash behind me and turn around. There, in the center of my room, Stands a huge heartless.

"Found it." Axel states as he gets his chakrams out. I roll my eyes and my dagger appears in my hand. As if some silent command was given we both rush forward and relentlessly attack the heartless.

An hour and a huge mess later it's finally dead. I look around the room to find it a complete disaster. Oh well. At least the heartless is dead.

In the morning we apologize for the mess and leave. Once at the castle Axel and I head our separate ways in silence.


	10. Chapter X

I sneak through the hallways, quietly making my way towards Roxas' room. I freeze when I reach Axel's room. I wait a few moments before deciding it to be safe to pass and silently sprint the rest of the way.

Things between Axel and I are still a little rocky. We haven't spoken since our mission at the castle and I heard from Xaldin that he's been looking for me so that we can "talk things out". Whatever that means.

I decide to shift into a bug and crawl under Roxas' door just to be safe, and sure enough, number eight is lounging on Roxas' bed talking casually with him. I quickly retreat and shift back to normal once on the outside of the room.

"LEXLEN!" Demyx shouts as he rounds the corner. I launch myself at him and cover his mouth while dragging him back around the corner.

"If you tell Axel that I was here I will make sure that Larxene knows it was actually you last week." I whisper threateningly before disappearing through a dark portal.

I step out of it in Hollow Bastion and shift to look like Ellen. Everything around me is quiet and peaceful. I close my eyes and take in all the calming scents and sounds. I sigh and casually start walking in the direction of Merlin's house.

When I finally reach the house, something seems off. The sound of the others talking and laughing is missing and the present silence is eerie. I back up and watch the house from the shadows. I hear a loud noise from somewhere near the town square and immediately dart off in that direction.

When I get there, the place is engulfed in flames. I hear Yuffie cry out in pain nearby and rush to help. As I round the corner, a fireball flies past my face and I find myself face to face with Axel.

"Axel?! What are you doing?!" I yell as I look around at all my injured friends. Yuffie is passed out, Tifa has a bad burn on her arm, Aerith is trying her best to heal them all, and Leon looks ok for the most part. I turn my attention back to Axel. "What were you thinking?!"

"Lexlen?" he asks confused. I roll my eyes.

"No duh! Who else would it be?! Now explain why all my friends are nearly dead?!" He steps forward, getting in my face.

"Maybe if you had cooperated with me from the start this wouldn't have happened, but no you had to be stubborn and refuse to tell me anything!"

"Don't you dare blame this all on me! I still barely understand myself, so how can you expect me to explain it to you, who is already super stubborn!"

"Both of you calm down," comes the squeaky voice of Mickey. We both turn toward him. "Now Axel if you really wish to know I'll take you to someone who can explain it to you."


	11. Chapter XI

We walk into the cold lab. King Mickey forced me to accompany them; apparently they didn't tell me everything the last time I was there. Axel looks around in shock and I move to the center to look at the hearts. My hearts percentage had moved to 60% and Axel's moved to 40%. I stare at his in surprise. He acted as if he didn't remember much. I wonder what memories he got back…

"This is your heart here." Ansem finishes pointing to Axel's heart. He move closer, standing next to me, directly in front of his heart.

"How long did you know about this?" he whispers, staring at his heart.

"I just found out before we were sent to Beast's Castle." I reply.

"Is that one yours?" he asks gesturing to the heart next to his. I nod my head in response. He shakes his head before laughing. "Just wait 'till Mansex hears about this!"

"This is actually why we brought you back here Lexlen." We both turn around to face Ansem as he continues. "Xemnas can never know about this. The reason that we chose you for the experiment was because we had been watching your actions and knew that you both would have good intentions with your heart. Xemnas on the other hand would only lose his heart to the darkness that consumes him. We also have a task for you. We want you to help Sora destroy Organization XIII from the inside and bring Roxas to him."

"Roxas? What does he have to do with this?" I ask.

"He is Sora's nobody. Without him, Sora is incomplete. For the time being, Sora is asleep. When he awakens, I expect you to have already destroyed part of the organization as well as have Roxas ready to return to Sora."

"How are we expected to destroy the Organization? I may have a lot of power with Xemnas, but he's not stupid. If I start killing his precious organization off, he's going to come after me without a second thought," I explain. Ansem nods in agreement.

"Yes that may be the case, but it still must be done. You will have to use your power to convince him to kill them instead of you killing them behind his back. Do whatever it takes to convince him." We fall into a thoughtful silence, planning how to approach this new assignment. I sigh breaking the silence.

"Come on Axel we have a lot to talk about back at the castle." I create a portal and gesture for Axel to enter first. I follow behind him and exit in my room. Axel walks over and collapses onto my bed with a sigh.

"Well isn't this just great. We have emotions and hearts and we live in a castle with people who lack and are desperately looking for those very things. Yet, we aren't allowed to tell them or let them have it. How are we supposed to live with them and not give away the fact that we have hearts?" Axel asks.

"I don't know. I guess we just act like we usually do," I reply sinking into the space next to him. We just lay there in silence for a few moments. "How much do you remember?" I ask randomly. He turns to look at me.

"Enough, but apparently you know more than I do. You survived longer." I laugh sadly.

"Yeah after you got your heart taken away, I went from world to world looking for it. I ended up getting mine stolen instead."

"I'm sorry." I look at him confused.

"What for?"

"I wasn't strong enough. I'm the reason you got your heart taken in the first place."

"Axel it was never your fault. You couldn't do anything about it or change it, and I went looking for your heart because I loved you." I admit. I feel Axel staring at the side of my head.

"Look at me." He whispers, gently placing a hand on my cheek and turning my head to face him. "I loved you too," he says and places his lips on mine.


	12. Chapter XII

I awake to the warmth of Axel next to me. After we kissed we just cuddled and shared what memories we had regained of the past. I, of course had bunches more, but Axel is slowly regaining them. He even remembered more things the more we talked because we spent so much time together as somebodies, so most of my memories were also his. Now the only things left to worry about are bringing down the organization and setting up Roxas to join with Sora who is currently with Naminé, having his memories pieced together.

I sigh blissfully before rolling out of the bed. I stifle a laugh as Axel groans and snuggles deeper into the bed. I sit in a chair by his bed and try to think of what to do next. Soon I'm pacing as the realization of what we have to do sets in and how little time we have before either Xemnas makes his next move or he finds out about us.

"Lexlen lay back down. There is no need to be pacing this early," Axel groans from the bed. I sigh and stand still to look at him like he's stupid.

"Axel it's only a matter of time before someone finds out. We have to make a move soon before it's too late. The king is depending on us to get this done." He just shrugs and falls back to sleep. I roll my eyes and quickly slide out of the room and head straight for Xemnas. I do believe it's time to get started in bringing the others down.

"Enter" was the harsh reply I got from Xemnas after a short two knocks on the giant door to the throne room. I hesitantly open the door and step into the room, suddenly unsure of what to say and regretting the decision to not plan ahead of time.

"Ahh Lexlen. I've been meaning to talk to you since you got back from your unexpected trip out of the castle. You had been acting strange since your mission to Hollow Bastion, so I had Vexen follow you for behavioral analysis." His words cause my heart to race and a nervous knot to form in the pit of my stomach. He knows. "He lost you a few time with your random portal jumps, but quickly picked up on a few things. You and Axel can both feel. You both have hearts and I plan on figuring out how you got them."


	13. Chapter XIII

I hit the floor with a thud as Luxord throws me into a cell in Vexen's creepy lab to await the cruel fate Xemnas has in mind for Axel and I. I hear Axel groan in the cell next to me and roll my eyes. He always has to act like such a baby.

"Luxord buddy, could you do us a favor and let us out," I try to persuade through the barred window in the door.

"No," comes his gruff reply. I sigh before deciding to try bribery.

"Even if we both agree to play strip poker with you whenever you want us to?" I say sweetly. He turns around to face me and my hopes rise.

"No." My face drops along with all hopes of getting out of this.

"Come on. Why not?" I whine.

"You kidding? I may like strip poker but I'd choose a heart over that any day." I sulk away from the window at his response and slide down the back wall until I'm sitting. I bring my knees up to my chest and rest my head on them in defeat. We are officially stuck in this prison to be Vexen's lab rats. I tried fighting them all off but it was useless. I could easily beat them all individually, but together they were just too powerful.

I hear a creepy laugh come from outside my cell door and I just stare at it emotionlessly knowing that from this moment one my life will just be a series of test and experiments to figure out how I got a heart.

The door slams open and Luxord trudges over and harshly drags me out into the lab as Vexen does the same for Axel. Axel and I meet each other's gaze and I flow of emotion and thought are passed between us. He quickly mouths "I love you" and I do the same for him before we are drag into two different lab rooms, probably seeing each other for the last time. I sit there in sad silence waiting for Vexen to enter and get it all over with. I don't have to wait long as he enters with a sinister smile but hollow emotionless eyes as expected from a nobody. He moves around the room laying out several sharp look tools he'll need. I close my eyes and take a deep breath, mentally preparing for the pain to come.


	14. Chapter XIV

It's been weeks of test after test and experiment after experiment, yet Vexen still has yet to make progress. Axel and I are still close since we can talk through the little holes in the door. Xigbar and Vexen don't seem to mind. Every day that passes Axel and I grow more and more nervous about the next day to come because we both know the eventually he'll realize that there is no way that he can replicate it and try to remove our hearts instead. We both know the low survival chances and can only hope he doesn't have to resort to it.

I hear movement outside my cell door and move to see who it is. It's late morning by my calculations and it's strange that Vexen hasn't come to collect us for more tests yet.

"Lexlen, do you think-" I cut him off.

"Axel we have to stay positive and assume he hasn't even considered it yet. Thinking he has will only drive us into a fear induced insanity. That's the last thing we need right now."

"I love you," he simply replies. A few tears slip down my face knowing my words were just ignorant lies.

"I love you too." I can tell he know the truth also. This will most likely be our last day together one if not both of us will most likely die and there is nothing we can do about it. Nothing we can say to take the reality of it away.

"Do you remember that time we nearly scared Leon to death?" I ask to end the depressing silence that ensued after our words. He laughs lightly.

"Yes. We always thought he was some emotionless alien." I too start to laugh at the memory. Our happiness was short lived as Vexen nears our doors. More tears make their way to my eyes.

"Axel no matter what I will always love you." I say as Xigbar pulls me from my cell. I look behind me to see tears also falling down Axel's face.

"And I will always love you." He replies as Vexen takes him into a different room. As I enter the room I take note of the various utensils laid out and the cold metal table in the middle of it.

I lay down and Xigbar straps me down as Vexen enters the room. He fiddles with a needle before plunging it into my arm. I flinch slightly within the bonds. As soon as the needle is removed my vision starts to blur and my eyes start to droop as the drugs take me under. This is where destiny plays its part in whether either one of us will wake up again.

Axel's P.O.V.-

I wake up on the cold metal table feeling typically emotionless. I hear an insistent beeping nearby and I slowly slide off the table to find the source. The sound leads me to a room across Vexen's lab. Inside I find Vexen standing over a girl, furiously trying to save her. I approach her and a sense of familiarity hits me. I try to grab hold of the memories, but the more she fades into darkness the further the memories seem. Once she's gone, the feeling passes along with any memory of what she looked like before fading. I look to Vexen who is moving around the room putting everything away.

"Why are you in my lab?" He asks. I look down at the floor in confusion. Why am I in here? I shrug and walk out to find Roxas. Maybe we could go eat Sea Salt ice cream.

As I walk through the halls, the words "I will love you no matter what" keep repeating in my head. I shake it off. The idea of love is stupid. I don't even have a heart.


End file.
